The aforementioned application Ser. No. 410,070 disclosed a process of gasifying coke beads produced by the hydropyrolysis of a bituminous or subbituminous coal or lignite. The process employs an ash-agglomerating fluidized bed.
The aforementioned application Ser. No. 257,432 disclosed a process for gasifying coal or coke derived from coal in a gasifier employing an ash-agglomerating slow fluidized bed of relatively large particles of coke with intermingled ash agglomerates together with a superposed contiguous fast fluidized bed of finer coke particles. This disclosure was primarily directed toward achieving a fuel gas in which the species hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and water vapor are present at concentrations which are substantially in thermodynamic equilibrium with carbon according to its reaction with steam. The temperature specified for the fluidized beds, between about 1,900.degree.F and about 2,100.degree.F, was selected in view of the two objectives, of achieving this equilibrium at approximately the lowest possible temperature for a given coal or coke feedstock, and of forming ash agglomerates from the ash matter of the feedstock containing little carbon.